The two people who tried to buy a $2 items with $100 bill. (This may not be a scam but I am still not taking it)

There seems to be a contingent of people who carry $100 bills around for the express purpose of using them to pay for small purchases or debts. We get them at the library, paying their $2 fine. When we don't have enough to break it and I ask them if they have anything smaller, at least half the time they'll say, "I just came from the bank, that's all I have."

You know what banks are good at? Giving you five twenties instead of a hundred. All you have to do is ask. But no, it's better to not have to carry the weight of four extra bills all the way from the bank to the library, or the yard sale, or the girl scout cookie table.

The two people who tried to buy a $2 items with $100 bill. (This may not be a scam but I am still not taking it)

There seems to be a contingent of people who carry $100 bills around for the express purpose of using them to pay for small purchases or debts. ...

Around here most stores won't even accept $100 bills unless your purchase is over at least $50. Apparently hundreds are the most frequently counterfeited of all the bills and some of them are very hard to detect as counterfeit. So making a small purchase with one always raises eyebrows. It's one thing for a store to be "out" $2, but quite another to lose all $100.

Just as I said, "I've poisoned her. I've pushed her car off a cliff. I've shot her. Nothing has worked!" the waitress walked up to our table.

We had similar experiences, except that we were discussing Dungeons and Dragons. There was nothing quite like the reaction of fellow diners who overheard one of our group saying, "I whacked him with my axe."

When my friend and I were writing our performance mysteries, we tried to make sure that things would really work. The cause of death for our first victim was to be a poisoned dart from a blow gun.

One Saturday afternoon, we were at the building checking out if it would be possible. A volunteer victim sat at the desk in a small office. My friend was kneeling down in front of the closed door and, using a standard drink straw, blew a toothpick in his general direction through the keyhole.

As we were doing this, the manager of the building was giving a tour to a couple who were considering the place as a venue for their Wedding reception.

You can imagine the facial expressions of all concerned when the manager and the HC came upon a middle-aged woman on her knees and blowing a straw through a keyhole with her DH photographing the event.

Just as I said, "I've poisoned her. I've pushed her car off a cliff. I've shot her. Nothing has worked!" the waitress walked up to our table.

We had similar experiences, except that we were discussing Dungeons and Dragons. There was nothing quite like the reaction of fellow diners who overheard one of our group saying, "I whacked him with my axe."

My group of friends all play video games, D+D, and there's several writers as well. I truly don't know how we haven't been stopped for a little "chat" with the boys in blue yet...

(I think it helps that a member of the group is a trainee police officer)

re: the $100. My dad was selling pop (soda for all you non-Michiganders ) at fifty cents a can for a community organization during a popular festival in our hometown. A (local) guy tried that $100 bill thing. My dad made him wait while he hunted down $99.50 in change.

One of my IRL friends posted on FB the other day about seeing a teenage girl crying on the phone to her mother about how her boyfriend had left her and she didn't have enough money to buy a bus ticket home and she was going to miss her baby sister's birthday and she didn't have enough money for a present and WAHHHH. My friend proudly said that she'd bought the girl a bus ticket and took her to the Dollar Store to buy birthday presents. She got a lot of "you're so awesome!" and "you give me hope for humanity" comments. I was dying to comment "Am I the only one here whose instincts are screaming 'SCAM SCAM SCAM'?".

Funnily enough, around that same time period, I passed a girl on the street who was wailing "MOMMMMM, I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DOOOOO!" into her cellphone. I'm wondering if it was the same one, and if so, whether she wails the same thing every time she sees a potential mark. (For the record, my SCAM-dar went off big-time, so I didn't even slow down.)

The change thing reminded me of a few issues I've had with cabs in the past before paying with a card was so prevalent. Lets say I had to take a cab to deliver something to a partner agency across town. I'd hop in a cab and when I get to my destination, the fare was, say $7. All I had is the $20 I was able to get from the ATM before I left. Lo and behold, the driver didn't have change. And so began the stand off. I can not give a driver a $13 tip on a $7 fare, as he clearly expected me to do. Eventually, the driver would go find another driver from the same company and make change for me. It was very irritating. Now I just use my card.

I understand they probably get lots of 20s but I would also assume they go back to dispatch from time to time to make change. Or I just don't understand how the whole thing works.

I think business people such as cab drivers should be prepared for twenties. Anything bigger than that is iffy.

For some reason, when I work the church rummage sale, the first person every year is buying $2 with a $100 bill. It's not even that easy to *get* $100 bills in Canada.

I suspect at least a few cab drivers, and rummage sale purchasers, expect you to "let it go." Give the driver his $13 tip, and give the person at the sale the $2 for free, because hey, it's just two bucks, right?

Logged

My cousin's memoir of love and loneliness while raising a child with multiple disabilities will be out on Amazon soon! Know the Night, by Maria Mutch, has been called "full of hope, light, and companionship for surviving the small hours of the night."

The two people who tried to buy a $2 items with $100 bill. (This may not be a scam but I am still not taking it)

There seems to be a contingent of people who carry $100 bills around for the express purpose of using them to pay for small purchases or debts. We get them at the library, paying their $2 fine. When we don't have enough to break it and I ask them if they have anything smaller, at least half the time they'll say, "I just came from the bank, that's all I have."

You know what banks are good at? Giving you five twenties instead of a hundred. All you have to do is ask. But no, it's better to not have to carry the weight of four extra bills all the way from the bank to the library, or the yard sale, or the girl scout cookie table.

And at my CU, they will ASK how I want my $$, if I'm getting a larger amount and not at the ATM. So there's really no excuse. I got cash back at the grocery store yesterday, and the cashier was very apologetic when she told me she had to give me 5's and 10's, for my $50, rather than 20's as she didn't have any. I told her I actually preferred that, so not to worry!

So far I've only had one cab driver pull the "no change for a $20" routine - my friend and I had a cab fare of $42 and between us we had three twenties. Since the cabbie had earlier refused to turn down or change the radio station (he was blaring music we didn't want to listen to), we weren't inclined to tip him more than a few bucks to begin with.

The plan was for me to wait at the cab while my friend ran up to get some small bills from her apartment, but luckily (?) a couple showed up wanting a ride and the cabbie settled for taking $40 and the new customers rather than wait and lose the next mark fare.

The two people who tried to buy a $2 items with $100 bill. (This may not be a scam but I am still not taking it)

There seems to be a contingent of people who carry $100 bills around for the express purpose of using them to pay for small purchases or debts. We get them at the library, paying their $2 fine. When we don't have enough to break it and I ask them if they have anything smaller, at least half the time they'll say, "I just came from the bank, that's all I have."

You know what banks are good at? Giving you five twenties instead of a hundred. All you have to do is ask. But no, it's better to not have to carry the weight of four extra bills all the way from the bank to the library, or the yard sale, or the girl scout cookie table.

It always seemed to me that they were hoping that by pulling out the 50 dollar bill or the hundred dollar bill to pay for a .15 cent copy that you would say "Oh, it's not worth trying to make the change. Have it for free." When we tell them "no breaking of fifties and hundreds" we get "Really, you're going to be all hard a** over fifteen cents?" "Really, you have the money to pay for the measely fifteen cent copy, but you won't bother to break it down?"

I know I have told this story before here, but I do recall one dreadful patron who never had change to pay for his fines. He would hand you a one hundred dollar bill even though he had a fistful of dollars. One day he started telling me he didn't have anything smaller (despite having a wad of ones in his hand) and another patron leaned over to him and told him in not so ehell approved language to give me a one and get out before he got hurt.

The lengths people will go to to feel they are putting one over on "the man".

The two people who tried to buy a $2 items with $100 bill. (This may not be a scam but I am still not taking it)

There seems to be a contingent of people who carry $100 bills around for the express purpose of using them to pay for small purchases or debts. We get them at the library, paying their $2 fine. When we don't have enough to break it and I ask them if they have anything smaller, at least half the time they'll say, "I just came from the bank, that's all I have."

You know what banks are good at? Giving you five twenties instead of a hundred. All you have to do is ask. But no, it's better to not have to carry the weight of four extra bills all the way from the bank to the library, or the yard sale, or the girl scout cookie table.

And at my CU, they will ASK how I want my $$, if I'm getting a larger amount and not at the ATM. So there's really no excuse. I got cash back at the grocery store yesterday, and the cashier was very apologetic when she told me she had to give me 5's and 10's, for my $50, rather than 20's as she didn't have any. I told her I actually preferred that, so not to worry!

Back in my tellering days, I ALWAYS asked how folks wanted their money, unless they were regulars and I already knew. In general, men wanted big bills, women smaller ones. I formulated the theory that men preferred the big bills so their wallets weren't too thick to sit on.

Logged

"The Universe puts us in places where we can learn. They are never easy places, but they are right. Wherever we are, it's the right place and the right time. Pain that sometimes comes is part of the process of constantly being born." - Delenn to Sheridan: "Babylon 5 - Distant Star"

The two people who tried to buy a $2 items with $100 bill. (This may not be a scam but I am still not taking it)

There seems to be a contingent of people who carry $100 bills around for the express purpose of using them to pay for small purchases or debts. We get them at the library, paying their $2 fine. When we don't have enough to break it and I ask them if they have anything smaller, at least half the time they'll say, "I just came from the bank, that's all I have."

You know what banks are good at? Giving you five twenties instead of a hundred. All you have to do is ask. But no, it's better to not have to carry the weight of four extra bills all the way from the bank to the library, or the yard sale, or the girl scout cookie table.

My bank's tellers love to foist $100s on me. Usually at the drive through lane, then they'll just keep saying "Have a Nice Day!" every time i push the call button, as people honk at me from behind.

Know what does a great job of breaking one without any problems/whining/angst?(Not that someone at a yard sale not wanting to break a hundred is whining or angsty, just customer service people who throw a big fit if you ask them to make change for you.) Self check outs at the grocery store. I go buy a soda with a C note and get my small change money, usually in tens for some reason. (I swear, I haven't gotten a twenty from a self check out in over a year.)